This invention concerns a fluid jet device for producing a liquid jet especially to remove biological tissue, with an appliance in which a pump set is arranged for producing high liquid pressure within a range of up to 800 bars. A pressure supplying source can be connected to the fluid jet device for producing the liquid jet, and also connected to a nozzle which produces the liquid jet by a flexible connecting line. The discharge orifice of the nozzle is between 20 and 120 micrometers in diameter.
The generic type surgical device according to specification EP-A-0 232 678 has a pump set which generates pressure and is connected by a flexible metal line to a nozzle for delivering a liquid jet, and the initial speed of the jet is equal to or greater than the mach number. This pump set as well as the other accessories are normally arranged and mounted within a housing. Since such a liquid jet cutting device is used especially in surgery, as for example in liver operations for destroying liver parenchymas or the like, the design of this device, together with the pressure supply system designed as a compressor for the pump set, is appropriately solid and heavy.
However, the purpose of this invention is to create a device within the generic concept described at the beginning, but which is also particularly suitable, in its portable version carried by operators, for ambulatory treatment of patients. It must also be possible to use this device for new treatment applications not only administered by doctors and medics but also carers, paramedics and the like.